[T]he sale was anticipated after the Allure Group, a private nursing home operator, closed the building in December. The company, which purchased the property last year for $28 million, has stated that the failure to obtain state Medicaid reimbursements forced the closure. The Allure Group also paid the city $16 million for the deed, which had previously restricted the building’s use to a “Not-for-Profit Residential Health Care Facility.”

Community Board 3 and City Council member Margaret Chin supported efforts to lift the deed restriction because they thought it meant the 200-plus-bed nursing facility could continue to operate as a for-profit entity. They were furious with the de Blasio Administration for allowing the building to slip into the hands of luxury housing developers.

A rep for the developers told the Journal that they plan to house upwards of 100 luxury units in the building, which overlooks Sara D. Roosevelt Park. (You can read more about the deal at BoweryBoogie.)

"The building is incredible with 12-foot ceilings and a penthouse floor that has a view from the UN to all of Midtown and Downtown. I knew it was doomed to have developers all over it from the first day I got there."

As on St. Marks, both Trash and Vaudeville will continue to exist on two levels. At the Seventh Street digs, they’ll be connected via an internal staircase, and those in the market for towering T.U.K. platform creepers can take comfort in the fact that the storied shoe department will still be housed on the lower level.

"I love St. Mark's Place. There's no doubt it. There's something magical about it. This just isn't any block," Goodman told us on the phone. "The decision wasn't something that I took lightly. From a business perspective, we saw a shift in the clientele. The block is not as conducive for fashion shopping as it once was. Now it seems as if it's all food — fast food — and bongs. Even stores that aren't bong stores sell bongs."

He said that the changing business environment on the block between Second Avenue and Third Avenue was just one of many factors that played into the decision to relocate.

"The retail world is so different today," he said. "So much of it is done online."

And increasing rents are always a culprit.

"The rent is creeping up," said Goodman, who is a minority partner in the ownership of the historic Hamilton-Holly House at 4 St. Mark's Place. "Rent was a factor, but it wasn't the sole reason."

In a piece on the closing today, The New York Times noted that the rent had risen to $45,000. (That will require a lot of sales of water pipes, ramen or bubble tea...items that a likely new tenant might sell.)

Last November, 4 St. Mark's Place, the landmarked building whose first owner in 1833 was Alexander Hamilton’s son, arrived on the market. Asking price: $11.9 million.

In the past few days, several people on social media said that they'd miss the site of longtime store manager Jimmy Webb on a smoking break outside the shop...

While passersby may not ever again know the pleasure of seeing the store’s most famous employee, Jimmy Webb, lounging on those steps ... he’ll continue his reign when Goodman and co. open their doors in the new space ...

A sign for Guaco Taco — in two varieties of green — arrived the other day outside 91 E. Second St. between First Avenue and Avenue A. Don't know a thing about the place at the moment. We'll check back in on the place with some details...

On the topic of tacos on East Second Street between First Avenue and Avenue A, the Taco Morelos cart has been back in action in its usual location ...

The cart had been replaced by a Taco Morelos truck during some recent cold weather... and then neither were there for several days, prompting a few concerned questions from readers...

Heesoo Beauty closed last summer at 114 Fourth Ave. at East 12th Street... and EVG reader JBA provides photographic evidence of the new tenant: a branch of the Southern California-based Sugared+Bronzed salon.

Several readers have already asked about the sugaring pricing ... (Sugaring being the Egyptian art where a water-soluble sugar paste is used to extract unwanted hairs, as you likely already knew) ... so via the S+B website...

[Click to go bigger]

The portion only goes up to ladle. So if you want the shovel, then you are on your own.

Today is also the last day for St. Mark's Bookshop at 136 E. Third St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. Any remaining books and magazines are going for $2. This is the shop's fourth location since opening on St. Mark's Place in 1977.

For some strange reason, people continue to bring their holiday/Christmas trees to be trecycled in the middle of Tompkins Square Park. (Why is this strange? Because it's only Feb. 28. You have a few more months to enjoy the trees.)

Anyway, something to keep in mind if you are going to dispose of your tree today. You won't need to quietly chuck it on First Avenue at East Fifth Street ...

Fake Snow Warning in effect for East Fourth Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery today... while crews are filming the movie "Collateral Beauty," starring Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley and Edward Norton.

In its current configuration, there are two living spaces: one on the second floor with a 2,600-square-foot duplex on the third and fourth levels. Darouvar said that Dalan planned to offer the units as rentals.

According to CB3's agenda for March, an entity going by Delaney Chicken Union Square LLC will appear before the SLA committee for a liquor license at 167 First Ave. between East 10th Street and East 11th Street.

Last September, he opened Delaney Chicken in the UrbanSpace Vanderbilt market in Midtown. He told Eater last summer "that his fried chicken is 'very different' from the other popular versions around town as it is batter dipped, rather than being dredged in seasoned flour. He promises a unique texture in the coating which comes spiked with the requisite secret seasonings."

There isn't any other information posted to the CB3 website at the moment about the First Avenue Delaney Chicken, such as its operating hours. CB3's SLA committee meeting is March 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the CB3 office, 59 E. Fourth St. between Second Avenue and the Bowery.

Seems to be a pretty crowded market already around the neighborhood for fried chicken. For starters, this location is one storefront away from Fuku, David Chang's popular fried chicken sandwich place. And there are places like Bobwhite on Avenue C, Root & Bone on East Third Street, Blue Ribbon on East First Street and Second Avenue, The Redhead on East 13th Street, just a name a few, that have a fried chicken following.

Delaney tells Eater that the space is not guaranteed to be an outpost of his UrbanSpace Vanderbilt stall Delaney Chicken. "We are exploring a number of options, including getting a liquor license in that space, but we have not signed a lease," he says. (And we changed our original headline to reflect this.)

The precinct’s crime rate is down 27 percent over all for the month. Specifically, robberies are down 57 percent, felony assaults are down 46 percent, burglaries are down 25 percent, and grand larceny is down 24 percent. The only spike, said Venice, was stolen vehicles — five this month, compared with only one during the previous month. The precinct’s crime rate is down 5 percent over all for the year.

Most of the crimes in the precinct have been grand larceny — the result of people leaving their property (often credit cards) somewhere and it being stolen.

Meanwhile, the NYPD announced earlier this week the launch of CompStat 2.0, "a newly public, online version of the data tool that the department has used since 1990 to map crime statistics by precinct," per Gothamist.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

But they were back open earlier today. The sign that arrived on the door last week noted they'd return Wednesday, Feb. 25, which caused a little confusion. Wednesday the 24th or Thursday the 25th? Turned out to be the 25th.

Per an EVG reader via email: "What could be better on a cold, blustery day than spicy basic ramen. A perfect day for Minca to come back to life. Was like a reunion with folks coming by for a bowl and good cheer."

East Village resident Grant Shaffer, a frequent contributor to EVG, is having a photo exhibition starting tomorrow evening.

Here are some details:

For the exhibition, "Gay Arms," Grant Shaffer presents a body of nearly 100 new photographic works. The series is documentary in style, with its subjects pulled from the artist's life.

Shaffer describes his artistic process as a means of understanding: "When I'm taking pictures, I think of myself as an alien who's here for a while, trying to understand the experience of my sliver of life on this planet. It's hard to say what my photos and this show are about. It's just intuitive. It's me trying to take in the world and asking people to notice or consider something."

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